Letters to the Editor for Nov. 18, 2018

Toward a healthy democracy

I am a liberal. However, I have relatives and dear friends who are conservative — and in some cases, very conservative. They prefer different people to run the government than I do; they prefer different policies to guide those people.

But in spite of our differences I believe my friends and relatives are good people, so if their preferred candidates and policies win and mine lose, I do not fear that fascist cops will come banging on my door or that the nation will morph into something unconstitutional. Instead, I think we will muddle through — just as we will if my preferences win.

What I do fear and despise is when people maliciously misrepresent, even demonize, the other side, portraying them in cartoonish exaggerations at which they can laugh, claiming without proof that they are communists or fascists, racists or anarchists, crooked or corrupt, stupid or hypocritical. Those kinds of behavior are contrary to our constitutional values. If we want the USA to be a strong, healthy democracy, then when such behaviors occur, we must call them out and criticize them.

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Hypocrisy

May I offer the words of a wise man: The condition of men is the result of disunion. Their disunion results from their not following the truth which is one, but falsehoods which are many. The sole means of uniting men is their union in the truth. And therefore the more sincerely men strive toward the truth, the nearer they get to unity.

But how can men be united in the truth or even approximate to it, if they do not even express the truth they know, but hold that there is no need to do so, and pretend to regard as truth what they believe to be false?

And therefore no improvement is possible so long as men are hypocritical and hide the truth from themselves, so long as they do not recognize that their union and therefore their welfare is only possible in the truth, and do not put the recognition and profession of the truth revealed to them higher than everything else.

Joe Gonzales

Biloxi

Count all votes

So the elections are over, almost, sort of, well maybe, but until it is, how about we wait just wait a couple more days until we’ve counted the votes. Especially the votes of the members of the military who are right now overseas protecting us, We The American People. How about we count their votes and not leave them out of their democratic process, the process they are fighting and dying for.

We call ourselves the greatest nation on the planet, the greatest democracy ever seen. The only way to prove that is to count the votes of all Americans.

Dusty King

Bay St. Louis

A success story

The G.I. bills of World War II and post 9-11 have turned out to be good investments for the U.S. government. The increased educations result in higher pay and ergo, bigger tax payments. The increase in tax revenue has exceeded the cost of the bills several times over.

That being a twice-demonstrated success, why not expand it to everyone? Everyone who graduates from high school with a C or better average and a good PSAT score, that is.

Instead, the government has tried the “trickle-down” (Reaganomics) idea and failed for the third time.

It failed for Reagan and nearly tripled the national debt (190 percent increase), failed for Bush and now for Trump, where the 2018 deficit is expected to set a peace-time record.

Einstein said that repeating a process and expecting a different result is a sign of “insanity.”

(or a Republican?)

Bruce Emerick

Carriere

Swamp monsters

Trump is learning that when you try to drain the swamp, the monsters that live there get mean. The reason they live there is called “living off the public dollar” and they won’t give it up because then they would have to get a real job with a boss that expects them to work.

Cecil Craft

Carriere

You can pardon a turkey, too

While President Trump is pardoning two turkeys for Thanksgiving, every one of us can exercise that same presidential power by choosing a nonviolent Thanksgiving observance.

And here are some other good reasons:

• You can brag about pardoning a turkey — like Trump (or not).

• You will stay awake for your entire favorite football game.

• Your sensible vegetarian kid won’t have to boycott the family dinner.

• You won’t spend a sleepless night wondering how the turkey lived and died.

Seriously, this Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks for our good fortune, health and happiness with a life-affirming, cruelty-free feast of plant-based holiday roast, vegetables, fruits and grains.

Our own dinner will feature a store-bought plant-based holiday roast, mashed potatoes, stuffed squash, candied yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. An internet search on “vegetarian Thanksgiving” is getting us more recipes than we could possibly use.

Sandy Taylor

Gulfport

Biloxi road work is a disgrace

Recently, my occupation took me into east Biloxi, and as I looked around at some of the infrastructure work and roads, I don’t think this will ever be completed. Not to the standards of flat work and road construction.

The pavement is uneven and manholes are not even close to finish grade, streets are paved over mud holes with zero compaction and no limestone fill. In my 50 years of engineering and superintendent career I’ve never witnessed a job so mismanaged and disorganized.

The taxpayers of this area should be outraged at the quality of work and the supervision of the city. They have suffered for three years, destroying their lives and vehicles all for a job that could have been completed by elementary school students with much greater results and in half the time.

The Biloxi city officials should all step down and resign. And if you were an inspector on this project you might want to find a new line of work. Because obviously you can’t read drawings or shoot grade.

This has been a waste of funds and a disregard for human dignity. I don’t hold the construction company liable, I hold all city officials at guilt! The people working on the project will do the bare minimum, but whomever was in charge at the city level owns the blame. This starts and ends at the mayor’s desk.